horsehead

[JJDOBBER79]

Hi there, saw the flame nebula on the weekend with the dust lanes quite clear but couldnt see anything else around it. Pretty keen to see the horsehead now. if im looking at the flame neb which direction am I looking in to find the horsehead. I have found some maps but they are quite confusing working out the orientation. From whatI can tell, if our eyes were good enough to see the flame nebula naked eye, would I be looking north and slightly right for the horsehead trail? Any help with this would be appreciated. Also, I am considering buying a h beta filter, is there anything else that this would be useful on or would I be buying it for one target only?

[ZeroID]

Horsehead is not easy visually from what I understand, needs lots of aperture ie a big scope and a dark site !! It is a dark area with an even darker object. From my LP site I cannot discern anything in that region with a 10" newt although I have obtained faint images when I push the processing.
Use Stellarium or any other similar app to locate the Horsehead first. It is slightly sth and west of Alnitak within the triangle of stars by Orions 'belt'.
Can't comment much on the H Beta Filter but I understand it is a very narrow band with limited scope for most objects.

[barx1963]

Jas
Good luck with the search just bear in mind a few things, as Brent said it appears visually as a slightly darker patch in a dark area of sky, it is very small really only a notch in the background.
Personally, and I would be the last to discourage anyone from trying for a target, there are lots of better, more interesting and exciting targets around.

I have observed and made notes on now over 1000 objects and have never needed a H beta filter.

Malcolm

[Blue Skies]

It's very tricky. It comes up easily in photos but visually....? I've never managed it.

Further reading and discussion that might be helpful to you in these past threads:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=59562
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=69148
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=69937

[SkyWatch]

It is not an easy object! I found it to be surprisingly large. If I remember rightly the first time I saw it (in a 10" scope from a very dark site), I was using 70x with about a 40 arc-minute fov. It is several arc-minutes across.
Generally it is hard even with an 18" scope. A number of experienced friends have never seen it, even in an 18" scope, because it is basically dark on slightly less dark, with very little contrast to make even the edges stand out. When I first saw it in the 10" it was a bit of a revelation: because I realised that I had been looking at it, but not seeing it for a couple of minutes!
I think you would need to be fully dark adapted, and at a site with an SQM reading of better than 21.6. You also need to get Alnitak out of the field of view.
I have never used an H-beta filter, and although I understand it does help, it apparently isn't much use for many objects.
I have seen it through a 30" scope: no filter needed then(!), and you could see details within the dark areas. Amazing!

Good luck, but don't expect anything like the photos, unless you are using a 30" scope or bigger! ;)

- Dean